Highlights from the Library's Collection
All Items by Source

Citation Tools

BCS Guide to Academic Honesty & Citation
A guide specifically designed to help you, the BCS student, to understand the requirements of citation and tools to help you create the correct citations.

eBooks

EBSCO eBook Collection Restricted Resource Some full text available
EBSCO's eBook Collection contains full text books, such as reference works, scientific monographs, literature and fiction. This eBook Collection contains more than 3,460 titles that are freely accessible and a small number of purchased titles.
EBSCO Reference eBook Collection Restricted Resource Some full text available
This ebook reference collection offers a rich selection of eBook titles covering a broad range of general reference subjects for high school students. Topics include biography, history, careers, language arts, literature, government, health, math, science, current events, and social-emotional health.
Onleihe Restricted Resource
Here you will find e-books for children, teenagers and adults as well as over 100 e-paper and e-magazine titles in many different langauges. Tip: Use the advanced search function to search by language.
note: VÖBB Resource: Requires valid Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins library card (Access Instructions)
Overdrive Restricted Resource
OverDrive provides access to popular and bestselling eBooks and eAudiobooks. The collection includes thousands of titles for adults, teens, and children. Titles are also available in Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. Titles are automatically returned at the end of the loan period, and there are no late fees.
note: VÖBB Resource: Requires valid Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins library card (Access Instructions)

Academic Search Engines

Google Scholar
Google Scholar searches for scholarly literature using Google's familiar interface. You can find articles, books, and content from academic publishers, professional societies, some academic web sites, and more. For more information see: Strengths and Weaknesses of Google Scholar.

A Word of Warning

In addition to many credible sources of academic material Google Scholar also indexes the open web for anything that looks like a academic paper; that is, anything with a title at the top, a list of authors, bibliography etc.

Some fringe groups have taken advantage of this in order to lend credibility and legitimacy to their ideas.


note: Google Scholar is primarily an index. For full-text versions of the books and articles returned by Google Scholar, you will need to take advantage of the university libraries listed to the right under 'Accessing Community Resources'.

Community Resources

Brill Journal Archive Online Restricted Resource
The archive data of 150 titles from the Brill Academic Publishers program are offered. The main focus is on the humanities and social sciences, international law and selected areas from the natural sciences. In the humanities, special emphasis is placed on the areas of Classical Studies, theology and the history of religion, as well as the culture and history of the Middle East.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Brockhaus Encyclopedia Online Restricted Resource Resource contains images Resource contains video Resource contains audio
The digital BROCKHAUS offers access to art and culture, spelling, synonyms, children’s and youth lexica and much more.
note: German Language Resource
VÖBB Resource: Requires valid Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins library card (Access Instructions)
Cambridge Core / Journals Restricted Resource
Cambridge University Press (CUP) publishes a wide range of renowned academic journals with a high degree of circulation.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
De Gruyter E-Journals Restricted Resource
The package contains refereed journals primarily from economics, but also from politics and law, and individual STM journals. The offer includes the current and retrospective content of the title in full text.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Economist Intelligence Unit Country Reports Archive Restricted Resource
The database of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) provides monthly updated country reports from all countries in the world. The country reports include information on current and expected future economic and political developments, on foreign trade and an overview of the most important economic indicators. The archive includes all country reports since 1996 and is expanded annually with newer content as part of a moving wall. The four most recent years are not available.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees Global Perspectives, 1941-1996 Restricted Resource
Translated and English-language radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals, government documents and books providing global insight on immigration in the mid-to-late 20th century
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Munzinger Restricted Resource Resource contains images Resource contains video Resource contains audio
Search here for Biographies, Country Information, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias.
note: German Language Resource
VÖBB Resource: Requires valid Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins library card (Access Instructions)
Oxford Journals Collection Restricted Resource
The Oxford Journals Collection is part of Oxford University Press, the world's largest university publisher, and includes titles from the following sub-areas: Humanities, Science, Medicine, Law, Social Sciences.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Sage Journals Online Restricted Resource
There are over 850 electronic journals from Sage Publications that cover a wide range of subjects including: archeology, geosciences, history, media and communication studies, medicine, education, philosophy, political science, psychology, law, linguistics and literary studies, sociology, technology and computer science, theology and religious studies, and economics.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Statista Restricted Resource
Statista gives users direct access to verifiable and relevant statistics on markets, consumers and social issues: over a million statistics, studies and reports from more than 18,000 sources.
note: German Language Resource
VÖBB Resource: Requires valid Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins library card (Access Instructions)
Testaments to the Holocaust Restricted Resource
This digital collection contains handwritten records and rare printed material from the Wiener Library in London, the oldest Holocaust museum in the world. It offers access to personal testimonies of life during National Socialism, which give insights into the domestic politics of National Socialist Germany, Jewish life in Germany from 1933 to the post-war period, life in the concentration camps, underground and in exile. All sources can be searched in full text. The majority of the documents are in German.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
The First World War Restricted Resource
The "The First World War" portal contains a large number of primary sources on the First World War from international archives and libraries, supplemented by a number of other offers such as timelines, interactive maps and case studies. These allow the digitized sources to be placed in a wider context. Four modules are currently available:
  • Personal Experiences
    • Diaries, Letters, Experience Reports, Photos, Postcards, Field Newspapers, Personal Items
  • Propaganda and Recruitment
    • Government and military files, leaflets, photographs, ephemera, propaganda posters
  • Visual Perspectives and Narratives
    • Official and personal photographs, manuscripts, rare printed matter, art of war, caricatures, objects and films
  • A Global Conflict
    • Self-testimonies, bequests and files on the expansion of the conflict on various continents

note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
The Gerritsen Collection - Women's History Online Restricted Resource
The digitized collection of the physicist and women's rights activist Aletta H. Jacobs is the world's largest full-text database on the history of women and feminism. Consisting of books, magazines and pamphlets, it reflects the development of feminist awareness and the women's rights movement. It spans four centuries.

It contains around 2 million pages of publications from Europe, North America and New Zealand in 15 different languages.

The collection includes the two segments:
  • Periodical Series (256 journals with 471,875 articles, around 95,000 of them in German)
  • Monograph Language Series (4,291 monographs and pamphlets) 2,336 English titles 929 German titles 734 French titles 472 titles in 12 other languages.

note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
World Bank E-Library Archives Restricted Resource
The World Bank E-Library Archive contains all World Bank publications up to and including 2020. It provides access to the complete collection of the World Bank's official publications and journals since the 1990s as well as to reports, working papers and top data from the World Bank's world development indicators. Subjects: Economics, Sociology, Political Science
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
World Biographical Information System / WBIS Restricted Resource
The World Biographical Information System Online (WBIS Online) comprises several million short biographies from numerous reference works that appeared from the 16th to the beginning of the 21st century. The biographical archives contained in each take into account different language and cultural areas.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)

Journals/Magazines

Directory of Open Access Journals
DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
Foreign Affairs Restricted Resource
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs.
note: Click here for login credentials
The Economist Magazine Restricted Resource
The Economist is an English-language news and international affairs publication. Print copies are available in the BCS Library and online access is available.
note: Click here for login credentials, then click 'Log in' on the Economist website.


 
The Economist: Historical Archive 1843 - 2007 Restricted Resource
The Economist Historical Archive contains the complete contents of all print editions of the “Economist” from the years 1843 - 2007. The “Economist” is the most important international weekly magazine for economic and financial policy. The articles are offered as color images. The archive is equipped with a full text search with various indices. It enables the export of the “Economic / Financial Indicator” as Excel spreadsheets and has a gallery of cover pictures with key topics highlighted for each week.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
The Nation Digital Archive Restricted Resource
The Nation Digital Archive contains the full editions of The Nation magazine from the first edition from 1865 to 2010 in full text. As the first weekly magazine, “The Nation” is a critical political and cultural magazine that has been influencing the political and cultural development of the USA and elsewhere for 143 years. Due to its left-liberal orientation, the archive offers important source material in order to obtain a broad insight into various viewpoints on political and social issues, especially in comparison with other US media. In addition, book, theater and film reviews provide an interesting basis for cultural studies.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
The New Republic Archive Restricted Resource
"The New Republic Archive" contains the complete issues of the magazine "The New Republic" from the first edition from 1914 to 2010 in full text. “The New Republic” is a political and cultural magazine that deals in its articles, essays, commentaries and analyzes with domestic and foreign policy issues in the USA as well as with cultural policy, art and literature.
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)

Newspapers

Berliner Zeitung
1994-present
note: German Language Resource
Der Tagesspiegel
1996-present
note: German Language Resource
Financial Times Restricted Resource
The Financial Times (FT) is a daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs.
note:
  1. Connect to your school's wi-fi
  2. Go to ft.com/schoolsarefree
  3. Scroll to the search bar and search for your school
  4. Click request your signup link
  5. Enter your school email address
  6. You'll then receive an email with a sign up link (please check your spam folder)
  7. Click the sign up link within the email to reactivate your account.
    Please note - you will need to be logged into your school's wi-fi when you open the activation link
Historical Newspapers Online Restricted Resource
The range includes 8 newspapers:
  • The Guardian (1821-1900)
  • The Observer (1791-1900)
  • The New York Times (1851-1922)
  • Boston Globe (1872-1922)
  • The Wall Street Journal (1889-1922)
  • Washington Post (1877-1922)
  • Chicago Tribune (1849-1922)
  • Los Angeles Times (1881-1922)

note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)
Le Monde diplomatique (English Edition)
Le Monde diplomatique is a monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs.
note: 1996-present
Le Monde diplomatique (German Edition)
Le Monde diplomatique is a monthly newspaper offering analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs.
note: 1995-present
German Language Resource
Morgenpost
2002-present
note: German Language Resource
PressReader Restricted Resource Some full text available
'All-you-can-read digital newsstand with thousands of the world's most popular newspapers and magazines.'
note: VÖBB Resource: Requires valid Öffentlichen Bibliotheken Berlins library card (Access Instructions)

 
The Day Restricted Resource
The Day is a current affairs website designed for Upper-Primary and Secondary Students.
The Times (UK) Restricted Resource
The Times is a British daily (Monday to Saturday) national newspaper based in London.
note: 1785-1985
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Resource:  Requires registration (Access Instructions)
The Times Digital Archive Restricted Resource
As a “newspaper that documents everything”, the Times from London has offered authoritative, award-winning reporting, information on parliamentary debates, critical interpretation of facts and a unique historical insight into the perspectives of important reporters and editions of the respective era since 1785.
The Times Digital Archive is an unrivaled opportunity to research the content of the best-known and most frequently cited daily newspaper - online and in the context of the original edition.
Thanks to the full-text search and subject classification of each individual article, users can search each issue for keywords in the title or article text, author and subject categories. Following this, the full text of the article or the entire page on which a searched article appears can be viewed quickly and easily on the screen. In addition, it is possible to look at a specific issue of the newspaper from a specific day and "leaf through".
note: Requires valid DFG Login (Access Instructions)

Online Resources

Europeana
Europeana works with thousands of European archives, libraries and museums to share cultural heritage for enjoyment, education and research. This website gives you access to millions of books, music, artworks and more – with sophisticated search and filter tools to help you find what you’re looking for. Register for a Europeana account today so that you can save liked items and create your own galleries.
German History in Documents & Images (GHDI)
German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) is a comprehensive collection of original historical materials documenting German history from the beginning of the early modern period to the present. The project comprises ten sections, each of which addresses a discrete period in Germany's history.
Infographic Templates
Here the SSt department has compiled a selection of PowerPoint templates for creating inforgraphics. BCS login required.
Khan Academy Resource contains images Resource contains video Resource contains audio
Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps.
NoodleTools Restricted Resource
It is a 'one stop shop' to help students formulate research questions, collection research, take notes and create citations.
Turnitin Restricted Resource
Turnitin offers an entire suite of tools to help students improve their writing; one of which detects plagiarism.
note: Ask your teacher for access to Turnitin.

Maps & Atlases

Library of Congress Country Studies
"The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world."
BBC Country Profiles Resource contains images
Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.
CIA World Factbook
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
Historic Maps from OpenStreetMaps
A platform that combines OpenStreetMap with Wikipedia, shows historic objects and old maps as overlays.
Historical Maps of Berlin (ZLB)
You can find maps and plans of Berlin here. Many of them are in the public domain and free for re-use.
True Size of... Atlas
Online tool that allows users to compare the size of countires and US states.

Databases

Britannica Online Restricted Resource Some full text available Resource contains images Resource contains video Resource contains audio
Provides access to thousands of high-quality encyclopedia articles in addition to images, video and audio collections. Some full-text magazine/journal articles from EBSCO are also available.
note: Click here for login credentials
Churchill Archive Restricted Resource Some full text available Resource contains images
'It includes more than 800,000 pages of original documents, produced between 1874 and 1965, ranging from Winston S. Churchill’s personal correspondence to his official exchanges with kings, presidents, politicians, and military leaders. This is more than a fantastic collection of primary source material; it is a unique online resource offering new insight into a fascinating period of our past.’
note: Click here for login credentials
EBSCO - MAS Complete Restricted Resource Some full text available Resource contains images
Designed specifically for high school libraries, this database contains full text for more than 540 popular, high school magazines. MAS Complete also provides more than 440 full text reference books, 85,670 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 502,000 photos, maps & flags, color PDFs and expanded full text backfiles (back to 1975) for key magazines.
Global Issues in Context
Contains international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues.
note: If you're prompted to enter a password. The password for is "open".

Images

Berlin um 1900 - eine fotografische Zeitreise
'Come with us on a virtual city walk through Berlin around 1900 and discover on the Berlin map numerous geographically indexed views of Berlin and other photographs from digitized material of the Digital Regional Library Berlin (period of origin: ca. 1885 to 1915).'

Primary Sources

Digitale Landesbibliothek Berlin
Online digital collections from the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin.

Statistics/Data

Berlin in figures (ZLB)
Statistical reports of Berlin since 2007.
Berlin Statistics (ZLB)
Official statistics of Berlin since 1852.
International Monetary Fund eLibrary
The International Monetary Fund eLibrary provides access to IMF publications, including journals, books, working papers, studies and statistical publications from the IMF. Statistical data sets are made available via the IMF Data product contained in the eLibrary.
Key to Icons

Restricted Resource = Restricted resource
Some full text available = Some full text
openURL = OpenURL enabled

Resource contains images = Images
Resource contains video = Video files
Resource contains audio = Audio files

Accessing Community Resources
Berlin Public Libraries (VÖBB)
Notice: You can now register online for a library card  and instantly access online resource. Simply click on Mein Konto --> Nicht Registriert.

Students and faculty can obtain a library card free of charge by submitting an application form and the documents below to any public library branch in Berlin.
  • Proof of Residence in Germany (Anmeldebescheinigung)
  • Identity card or passport
  • Student Card (Schülerausweis)
  • Signature (on the form) of the parent or legal guardian (for children and adolescents under 18)
 
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Residents of Germany have access to around 150 academic databases through the German Research Foundation (DFG). The aim is to enable scientists, students and scientifically interested individuals access to databases, digital text collections, electronic journals and e-books. These databases are made available through the universities below, but individuals can also register to access them from home. To register, users must select the databases they would like access to and create an account on the DFG's website. Upon registration the DFG will send the login credentials to the user's home address. Usually this takes a day or two.

Still having trouble?

Click here for a visual walk-through.
 
Freie Universität
Users officially registered in Berlin or in Brandenburg can obtain user cards at no charge on presentation of identification (Personalausweis; or passport in combination with official proof of residence (Meldebescheinigung)). Adolescents (age 16 through 17) must submit a special form for requesting a user card; this form has to be signed by a parent or legal guardian. More information can be found on their website.
 
Humboldt Universität
Any resident of the Germany who is at least 16 years of age may register to use the libraries of Humboldt University free of charge. You must submit your ID card or your passport with official proof of residency (Anmeldungbescheinigung) at one of their service desks (for instance at the Grimm Zentrum near Friedrichstr. Bhf). In a few minutes, you will be issued with a user ID that is valid for one year. For more information see their FAQ section (German only). If you are 16 or 17 years old, you must provide your parents' consent along with your passport and proof of residency. Please print the following form and take it with you when you register: Parental Consent Form (PDF). When you register you will be able to borrow books and access hundreds of online databases from computers located in any of Humboldt University's libraries.
 
Technische Universität Berlin
Secondary students can register to use the libraries of the TU at the central library (Zentralbibliothek) for 5.00 EUR/year. Required documents include passport, proof of residency (Meldebescheinigung) and student card (Schülerausweis). In addition, students under 18 will need to submit a form signed by their legal guardian. Upon registration students can borrow books and take advantage of electronic resources. Click here for more information.
 
Universität der Künste Berlin
A Technische Universität Berlin library card (see above) is valid at the libraries of the UdK Berlin.